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Re: Just what good is Calculus?

By: Decomposed in 6TH POPE | Recommend this post (0)
Sun, 21 Feb 21 6:49 AM | 66 view(s)
Boardmark this board | 6th Edition Pope Board 		Msg. 13042 of 60008
(This msg. is a reply to 13037 by Zimbler0)
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Zimbler0:

Re: “So, De, my question. Is it possible to learn 'applied Calculus' and make good use of the material - without having to learn or master that dx/dy garbage?”Great question. I didn't know how to respond so I ran it past Joey. Here's his answer. (You may not like it.)If you don't care about understanding why it works, anything can be plugged into wolfram alpha and it'll give you an answer

Wolfram alpha is an online "calculator+" (I think it calls itself a knowledge engine)

And yes, I would say understanding derivatives is necessary for mastery of calculus, but that's because it's an important part of the subject and mastery has to be total. But you could learn how to use integrals/derivatives without knowing how everything works.




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Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months


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The above is a reply to the following message:
Just what good is Calculus?
By: Zimbler0 in 6TH POPE
Sun, 21 Feb 21 5:17 AM 		Msg. 13037 of 60008

Actually Calculus is a fascinating subject.

It does to Algebra what Algebra did to normal Arithmetic.

Howsomever, De, Question for you. Or your son if he's more qualified.

Ya got that dx/dy bull poop . . . And that taking a limit almost to zero, then dividing it out and magically it goes away and there is an answer.

What really does all the work is a little thing called a 'derivative'. With what I now know, I can go back to Algebra, with the need to plot a quadratic equation - which plots into a parabola. No problem. Take the derivative of the equation, set it to zero, solve, and now I got an 'x' coordinate. Plug that back into the equation and now I got the 'y'. This point being the exact location of the vertex of the parabola. Plot a few points either side of 'x' and I got the parabola. Easy stuff, and no dx/dy required.

I took a quick look at the integral . . . Getting the area under a curve. No sweat, once one 'gets it'. (About forty years ago I had a problem 'getting it'.) The hard way was to algebraically divide that curve into ten-thousand little bitty imaginary rectangles, and add up all the areas. So I fed it to to a computer. Right answer. Then I woke up in the middle of the night . . and said, "That's how you do it." A year later, out of school, and I forgot 99% of it.

So, De, my question. Is it possible to learn 'applied Calculus' and make good use of the material - without having to learn or master that dx/dy garbage?

Zim.

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